New centres to help migrant workers

The Labour Ministry will open two centres next month to help migrant workers complete their applications for work permits and a national verification process.

Waranon Pitiwan, director-general of the Department of Employment, said the centres will open on Wednesday.

One will be located at Zeer Rangsit, an IT-oriented shopping centre in Pathum Thani’s Rangsit area. The other centre will open in The Square shopping centre in Nonthaburi’s Bang Yai area.

Each centre will be able to assist about 500 migrant workers per day. They will operate as a one-stop-service, with the aim of reducing the workload on the 10 other employment offices in and around Bangkok.

Mr Waranon said both centres will initially provide services for Myanmar migrant workers who have already had their employment status verified. These candidates have also paid fees for a certificate of identity (CI) and begun the process of applying for a work permit.

The ministry rushed to open two new centres to cope with surging demand as migrant workers are required to have their national verification and work permit applications approved by Dec 31.

So far, 295,000 Myanmar migrant workers have paid the required fees while about 125,000 more have still to do so. These workers can pay their fees at any 7-Eleven shop near them, he said.

The ministry is trying to streamline work permit applications to make them simpler and faster for migrant workers.

Long queues, red-tape and slow progress are cited as major factors that have driven some migrant workers to agents who promise to complete the process on their behalf, but who are often part of underground syndicates seeking to make a quick buck at the migrants’ expense, observers say.

Some Cambodian workers paid 6,0008,000 baht to agents to complete the paperwork for them — something they could have done themselves if the process was quicker and less intimidating, said Adisorn Kerdmongkhol, an international migration activist, adding the current system is marred by red-tape and lacks both effective communication and good management.

In June, the government issued a law imposing tough penalties on employers who hire illegal migrant workers.

However, PM Prayut Chan-o-cha decided to tone down the law and show a degree of leniency by allowing these unregistered workers to apply for work permits before Jan 1.